Knox mulling return to Italy for murder retrial

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Amanda Knox has refused to rule out returning to Italy for her murder retrial in the grisly 2007 slaying of her British house-mate, USA Today reported on its website on Tuesday.

Knox, 25, was ordered to stand trial again by Italian authorities last month in the latest twist of the legal saga which had seen her acquitted on appeal in 2011 following her earlier conviction.

The American student and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito had originally been sentenced to 26 years and 25 years in prison for the killing of Meredith Kercher six years ago.

Although legal analysts expected Knox to be tried again in absentia following the decision in March to order a new trial, the former student told USA Today in an interview she was “considering” returning to Italy.

“My lawyers have said that I don’t have to and that I don’t need to. I’m still considering it, to be honest,” she was quoted as saying when asked if she planned to return to Italy.

“It’s scary, the thought. But it’s also important for me to say, ‘This is not just happening far away from and doesn’t matter to me.’

“So, somehow, I feel it’s important for me to convey that. And if my presence is what is necessary to convey that, then I’ll go.”

Knox is currently launching a publicity blitz in the United States to promote her autobiography Waiting to be Heard for which she was reportedly paid a US$3.8 million advance.

Knox told USA Today she hoped Meredith Kercher’s family would read her book, but acknowledged she had not had any contact with them.

“It matters to me what Meredith’s family thinks ... I really hope that the Kerchers read my book. And they don’t have to believe me. I have no right to demand anything of anyone. But I hope they try,” she said.

“It’s really hard (to contact them). I’ve always been afraid of just upsetting them. And I feel like as long as there’s question of my involvement in Meredith’s death, I don’t want to impose myself on them.

“And I really think that, at least from what I’ve read, that nothing I could say would make them feel better.”

In excerpts of an interview with ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer due to be broadcast later Tuesday, Knox said she wanted to be “reconsidered a person” after being portrayed as a thrill-seeking sexual murderer throughout the case.

“I was in the courtroom when they were calling me ‘devil,’” she said. “I mean, it’s one thing to be called certain things in the media and then it’s another thing to be sitting in a courtroom, fighting for your life, while people are calling you a devil.

“For all intents and purposes, I was a murderer – whether I was or not,” she said. “And I had to live with the idea that that would be my life.

“I’d like to be reconsidered as a person,” Knox added. “What happened to me was surreal but it could’ve happened to anyone.”